Tipplers

Alrighty then, finally got some Tipplers done! These are single shot sized glasses, basically the same capacity as a standard shot glass. They weigh in at a hefty 4.3 ozs so not quite as heavy as the BigShots but still substantial for their size. The diameter is 1.5" and the height is 2.25". They have been professionally passivated (acid cleaned) to remove surface iron and sulfur. Most of them have light beauty marks of one sort or another which seems to be unavoidable with this kind of machine turned product but certainly nothing objectionable. Dishwasher safe and made to last virtually forever. :)

The Tipplers have a bit more complex shape compared to the BigShots so they take longer to turn and mill. With less material but more machine time they end up costing me the same to make and so they are priced the same as their larger counterparts at $55 plus shipping.

Sold Out for now, thank you!

Tools In Progress

Got the G3 Prybabies off to the tumblers today. They will be back in about a week at which point I will name stamp them and then they will go back for heat treat and final finish tumble.

The WingNuts came back from first tumble yesterday and I stamped them and got them back out the door headed to heat treat. We're looking at probably 10 days or so for them to be back and ready to go.

I will be doing a good sized batch of titanium G3 Prybabies in about 3-4 weeks. They are being cut next week.

I have a small number of plain Dot Shots that I will be finishing tomorrow. These were done without the knurling for a super clean industrial look.


The new small shot glass project is underway as I type. Should have the first of those by the end of next week. This is a standard single shot sized vessel. I think this design will tentatively be called the Tippler. ;)

DotShot

This is a BigShot variant featuring a series of eight decorative divots and pinstripes. I only made a few dozen of these. It's possible I could make more but it's more likely that I'll be changing over to an all new design this summer.

Sold Out, thanks!

NutJob is Now a WingNut

It seems there might be a conflict over use of the name NutJob for my upcoming wrench tool. So in order to nip any potential problems in the bud I think I will be renaming it the WingNut.

NutJob Preview

Alright, as promised, a sneak peek at the upcoming NutJob. LOL, I couldn't resist poking a little fun at myself with the name and it did seem oddly appropriate for the tool as well. :D

Anyway, for this tool I wanted something fairly small and compact but at the same time I think there is a need for something beefier than some of it's predecessors. This piece bridges that gap to some extent while remaining small and light enough for easy pocket carry.

I debated back and forth on a bottle opener but finally decided that everyone has lots of bottle openers already and it's likely that most people will have more than one tool on them anyway being the gearheads that I know you all are. Plus you can easily pop a cap with the screwdriver end of this tool in a pinch using the old lever-in-the-fist method.

So, the NutJob combines the best of the Crawdaddy with the best of the Atwrench with a small dose of Mini Bug Out Bar thrown in for good measure. It has six SAE wrench sizes, 1/4-9/16" in both open jaw and closed jaw configurations. The two small bevels on the open jaw end can be used for light prying or perhaps as a small screwdriver if need be. The butt end features a large screwdriver/prytip and lanyard hole. The 1/4" hex hole in the center would form a nice T-handle wrench if necessary. I placed the side grooves in such a way as to optimize grip and if desired an O-ring or O-rings could be obtained at your local hardware store if you wanted rubber grips. I will not be supplying them on this tool since I'm envisioning the primary function of the grooves as simple grips.

Material for this tool is CPM 154, .160 thick (5/32") and the overall length of the tool is right around 4 inches.

I'm just finishing the grinding on the first batch. I have enough steel for three more batches and I will be doing one of them in metric sizes once I finalize the drawings. I'll be running another post where we can discuss the metric one in more detail but for now let me just get these pieces going. We're looking at about 2-3 weeks for completion from the tumbling and heat treat cycles. G3 Prybabies will be coming at just about the same time as well.

The NutJob:



A piece in progress with the Crawdaddy and a fancy Atwrench next to it so you can see the size comparison:

Progress Report

I know it's been quiet around here for a couple of weeks but rest assured that stuff is going on behind the scenes!

I still have a few BigShots available and they continue to trickle out the door. It's kind of a nice change to finally have been able to make enough pieces of something to make everyone happy. I have a few variation pieces available as well and will be posting them soon.

In other news, the G3 Prybabies are still in the works. I am in grinding mode this week and am working on them.

I'm also working on a brand new tool, something I'm calling the NutJob. I'm nearly done grinding the first batch and I'm just about ready to post progress pics. This will be a slightly larger pocket tool than my recent offerings at 4 inches OAL and it is quite substantial. It combines the beefed up jaws of the Crawdaddy with the body of the Atwrench and adds the tail end of the Bug Out Bar. The first round of these will be SAE sizes only but I may cut a sheet of them in metric as well.

I'm still weighing my options on other projects. My specialty steel supplier, Crucible, has filed for Chapter 11. I guess their biggest customers have been the auto industry and tool and die companies and with all the economic calamities they have gotten into trouble. So right now S30v steel is not available in the thicknesses that I use. I'll be using some of the very similar CPM 154 for the next couple of projects and it sounds like S30v will again be available later this summer. My fingers are crossed. It would be a huge blow if Crucible ended up going out of business. I'm researching other possible alloys in case of such a disruption but there are many reasons for me to use the steels I have been using and it will not be easy to find a good replacement material although the old standby 440C is one possibility.